Cleveland Suburban Hockey League     Minutes of Meeting of February 8, 2005

Programs not in attendance: Chris Kendel, Cleveland Skating Club, Columbus, CYHA Panthers, Gilmour, Youngstown.

Board Members not in attendance: Tom Forcellini, Chris Kendel and Barry Lulas.

Motion to approve minutes of January 11, 2005 league meeting made by Dee Trobentor, Second by Betty Ann Maulorico. All in favor.

Playoffs: Playoff Eligibility forms must be completed by coaches and turned into the league office prior to any team participating in playoff games. If a player did not participate in 50% of the team’s regular season league games that player cannot play in CSHL playoff games. Teams must indicate on eligibility form the names of ineligible players, or that all players on the team meet the eligibility rule.

Games postponed due to recent bad weather that have not yet been rescheduled must be played if the game affects either first place or the final playoff spot. If a game is still unplayed and not rescheduled between teams finishing 2-3 that game does not need to be rescheduled if teams are unable to do so. With just 8 days remaining in the regular season games that must be played need to be rescheduled immediately. Teams are permitted to schedule games during the week between the end of the regular season and the start of league playoffs if necessary.

Unplayed games that do not need to be rescheduled will be posted as a 0-0 tie in order to close out the final unreported games on the website. This also will insure that these games are not recorded as forfeits, and programs do not incur forfeit fines or penalties.

Awards - Trophies, Banners, T-Shirts: This year to acknowledge the new league structure the AA banners will be red, A will be white and B will be blue. Division winners need to email Betty Ann the list of players and coaches names for trophy nameplates. Banners and trophies for Division winners will either be presented on ice during the playoffs or will be available for pickup at the Championship game playoff site. T-shirts for Division winners must be pre-ordered, the information is on the website. Playoff champion and runner-up T-shirts will also be available for sale at the Championship playoff site. New this year, players and coaches names will be imprinted on the T-shirts.

Playoff locations, dates: first round, weekend of February 26-27 will be at Euclid, Gilmour, Mentor and Rocky River. All Championship games will be March 5-6 at Gilmour. Schedule is available on the website.

Referee Fee Increase: tabled due to Barry Lulas being unable to attend the meeting. Programs are advised that Board is anticipating approval of a moderate raise as it has been 5 years since the last referee fee increase. New rates will be announced no later than the May meeting so that programs may prepare budgets for the 2005-2006 season.

New Program applications: Fremont, Wooster and Ohio Flames each made presentations for application as full participating members effective 2005-2006 season. Basic program information, number of teams and registered players, rink facilities and coaches/program administrative structures were discussed. Fremont and Wooster are looking to make the step from house to adding travel teams. Ohio Flames are seeking to place Squirt and Peewee girls teams at competitive levels for CSHL regular season league play.

According to CSHL bylaws admission of new programs to the league is decided by the Board of Directors. The Board has asked for input from current member programs on the new applications submitted by Fremont, Wooster and Ohio Flames, and will take this into consideration when making their decision. 

League Bills for regular season charges were distributed to programs by Treasurer Betty Ann Maulorico. Some programs may receive an additional bills after the end of the season if there are any fines assessed for forfeited games, credits for allowed cancelled games, etc. Betty Ann asked if programs could process bills for payment as soon as possible.

Board Elections: 4 positions are open for election. Tim O’Shaughnessy, Marianne Millican, Don Lewis and Tom Forcellini have completed their two-year term of service. Tim, Marianne and Don have announced their intention to run again. Interested candidates should notify the league office of their intention to run for a board position at least 2 days prior to the elections, which will be held at the Annual League Meeting, Tuesday May 17, 2005. Candidates are asked but not required to be present at the meeting, and be prepared to give a short speech introducing themselves and their reasons for running for a board position. Candidates can also be nominated from the floor the night of the meeting.

Blind Draw for Peewee State Tournament: Bracket draw for teams participating in the Peewee State Tournament to be held at Strongsville was conducted at this meeting, by Dee Trobentor, USA Hockey Mid-Am District Vice President, and Cathy Fievet, USA Hockey Mid-Am District Associate Registrar. League officials were asked to witness the draw to insure that team placement was random as determined by Mid-Am District Tournament protocol.

Game Misconducts Reports were distributed to programs. Acknowledging that some go unreported there is still a significant decrease this season as compared to last season, with teams doing a better job of noting on score sheets when the penalties were served. Programs were reminded that players receiving their third game misconducts or coaches receiving their second game misconduct in any USA Hockey game, not just CSHL league games, such players or coaches are suspended from playing in CSHL games until a hearing can be held. The player/coach must appear before the Board of Directors Discipline committee, and these meeting are scheduled at the Board’s convenience, not to accommodate the player or coach so that the hearing may be held to lift the suspension for the playoffs. The next scheduled meeting of the Board of Directors is March 8.

Directors and Officer’s Insurance Bills have been distributed to programs by USA Hockey and are payable to the MidAm District. This insurance coverage was obtained by USA Hockey in response to league and programs being denied or discontinued D&O coverage by the previous provider. This insurance was effective January 1, 2005. Those programs with other D&O coverage should cancel those policies to avoid the expense of double coverage.

USA Hockey/MidAm fee structure will be changed effective 2005-2006 season from the current player IMR fees and additional teams fees to a single per-player fee. Online registration will be available so that a player can be registered, pay fees and receive a receipt to present to their home association to should they are properly registered. Each player needs to be registered and pay the yearly registration fee one time, and will be permitted to play on multiple teams within USA Hockey guidelines including spring and summer teams without needing to re-register. There are still logistics to be worked out regarding team rosters, how programs will conduct collecting additional program fees from players, etc.  

Motion to adjourn made by Mike Cordish, seconded by Dee Trobentor. Meeting adjourned.